Retrouvailles- the joy of meeting or finding someone again after a long separation; rediscovery.
Yamuraiha rested her head on the window of the old pickup truck. It was a muggy Tuesday- rain- lots of it. She watched as the drops fell onto the glass and slid down to the rusted brown metal which was the passenger seat door. Even the weather seemed to be against her. She let out her hundredth sigh, just loudly enough for her father to hear.
"What's the matter? You keep moping- it's just rain Yamuraiha." he said trying to sound positive. "We'll be there soon- in the meanwhile, why don't you make a game out of the journey? Describe everything you see." He smiled at her stretching out the deep wrinkles on his freckled face.
"Fine," she complied. She rolled down the window to get a better glimpse at the passing scenery to her left. "Tree, cow, tree, flower, tree, tree, suspicious looking silo- and oh look even more tree!" She rolled the window back up. "Wow, what a game. Golly me- I think I just passed three hours by playing it." She pouted. Acting like an edgy teenager wasn't something she would have done before, but times like this called for action.
"No need to be a smartass. And look there's more than just trees, this is a small town. Why not mention the tiny cute stores or houses?" he scoffed. "I know you're upset we're moving, but I think this will do you some good- well a lot of good." He turned on the windshield wipers. "Come on, you grew up here- I know it's the country, but-"
"It's not the country! It's just farmland! Do you even know we're going the right way? Everything looks the same!" she exclaimed. "Please tell me you at least know where we are- and you didn't take a wrong turn three hours ago." He shrugged, causing immediate panic to enter her body. "PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE JOKING." She clung onto his arm. "Please- I'm already sick of this place- I don't want to drive anymore."
Without a word, her father gradually pulled the car to a stop. "Yamuraiha I-"
"I knew it! We are lost! I can't believe it! And almost no gas in this rust bucket! I'm going to die surrounded by hay." she whined.
"Yamuraiha, we are here." He pushed his grey hairs out of his face. "Now before you fill my ears with even more complaints I want to tell you something, so please listen to me carefully." He turned off the engine and took off his seatbelt. "We lived here for seven years until you were eight and then we moved. And before we moved do you remember how much you begged me not to?" She nodded reluctantly. "If you loved this place once don't you think you will feel the same again?"
"Maybe..." she agreed."But what if I don't like it? What if everyone here will think I'm weird- what if I think they're weird?" she questioned. She chewed her badly painted dark blue nails. "I mean look at me- I didn't exactly win the 'most popular kid' in school."
"So much uncertainty isn't good for a young person." He patted her shoulder. "You will be okay. Just give me five months to convince you. "
"Oh alright." She took off her seatbelt. "But I don't think it'll help. I don't think anything will at this stage." She turned away from him.
"Hey now, they say fresh air can cure anything. I came here heartbroken and found you- my miracle. If that can happen, I think anything is possible. This place is magical." His small grey eyes twinkled.
When she heard that a smile emerged on her face. "Well- I guess I could give it a try- I mean I am a miracle." she joked. Magic was the last thing she believed in. Ghosts and demons maybe had a chance to be real, but miracles and magical occurrences? That was just something people made up to get through their hard times. Still, she annoyed her father enough already, and keeping up her negative attitude would be overkill.
"Let's unpack then." he suggested.
"There is nothing to unpack. We only took the essentials remember? You put everything else in storage."
"Then perhaps we are getting new furniture. It's not like I threw away your clothes. Most of your things are there."
"If we are here for a fresh new start then shouldn't we just have thrown my things away too?" she asked.
"You can if you want to. I just didn't want to through the trouble of hearing more of your complaints."
She smirked. "Well, that is kind. Thank you for thinking of me."
"Okay, enough talking let's get to our new place shall we?" He took the keys out of the car and stuffed them into his worn jeans. "It's rainy, but if you run to the porch I don't think you'll get soaked."
She shook her head. "No, I want to help too. After all, I was acting so bratty on the way here. I owe it to you." She buttoned her thick flannel and opened the door.
Quarter past four and it was already dark. That's winter for you, she thought. Time seemed to pass much faster here than it did in her old house.
Well, she was only here for a few hours. The half of the first one she spent running back and forth lugging the boxes of clothing and other items. The second half of it she was taking a long, well deserved hot bath. After that she had to unpack and explore the house. Which, surprisingly, took longer than she had expected. The house was big. Bigger than their old house. It was fairly new, but creaked as if it had been around for centuries.
She liked the library best out of all the rooms. It was a musty smelling place; full of cobwebs and books the previous owners had left behind. But that's why it was so charming. The best part of this room was the small nook right in between the dark wooden shelves that gave her a perfect view out the window into the world. Perfect place to go to on a rainy day such as this one, she thought.
Her room was nothing special. Just an empty room with a bed frame in the middle of it surrounded by boxes. She would get her mattresses delivered to her later. Somehow it was a good thing that the room was empty because she'd get a chance to decorate. It would give her a reason to look through those YouTube tutorials on DIY decorations.
She didn't really want to admit it, but she was already liking the place. It was a small town that was going to be a little hard to get used to, maybe if she tried hard enough she could like it even more than her old home.
"I'm going to buy us some food from the market and bakery- you want anything?" Her father was putting on his coat and already halfway out the door.
"It's fine," she waved her hand. "Surprise me. In the meanwhile, I'll make myself some tea- the stove works doesn't it?" she asked.
"For the last time Yamuraiha, everything in this house works except for the heating- but I'll have that fixed by next week."
"Don't worry, I won't get hypothermia. I'm wearing three sweaters and the warmest sweats known to man, I'm sure I will win this battle with the cold." she said proudly as she closed the door.
The kitchen was the typical "country" kitchen- the one you would see in commercials and television shows. Stone flooring and ceilings which had pots and pans hanging from them. The cabinets were birch wood with pretty brass handles as were the counters, except they had a stone top.
She placed the steel kettle onto the black stove. She was proud that she packed extra packets of her favourite teas- it was as if she knew such an occasion would happen. The moment was kind of the epitome of comfort in a way: her in her softest fleece sweaters and pants- not to mention her fuzzy socks with the little puppy dogs on them.
"Finally," she sat herself down onto a stool and breathed in her herbal tea. "Now for me to find out if you taste as good as you smell-"
There was a large thud at the door followed by a short and strained laugh.
An intruder?! Yamuraiha dropped her cup down onto the counter and reached for the largest pot she could find. "No way am I going to let somebody get me before I drink this tea." she whispered to herself. She tiptoed into the hallway as quietly as possible. Nothing. Was it someone playing a prank? She decided it would be okay to get farther down the hall and closer to the front door. "Hello?" she said softly. "If you're here to rob us then don't even bother because I don't even have a mattress- and if you're here to eat me or something- then big surprise buddy, my sodium intake is super high so it'll be like eating that old licorice that is too salty." Yeah, great argument, she thought.
"Really? You think a cannibal cares about how much salt they eat?" a sarcastic voice said. It was coming from the coat closet.
"Why you!" She ripped the door open and prepared to bash her pot into the intruder's head. "Get out!"
"W-wait stop!"
She put her arms down and took a closer look at the person who was in front of her. A boy, probably not much older than she, with sea green eyes, bronze colored skin, and silvery white hair. She dropped the pot. "UHM."
"What were you going to do with that pot anyways?!" he yelled. "Make soup out of my brain?!"
"No I was going to hit you so you wouldn't attack me!" she yelled back at him. "What are you doing in my house anyways?!"
"Well," he began.
Okay, well that is the end of chapter one! I started writing again, sorry if you read my previous story "Lonely Secrets" and wanted to finish it. I won't be continuing that, but if you really want to know the end of that story you can message me and I will tell you! I hope you like this story though and support it through reviews! Please tell me if anything seems odd or text seems missing, Fanfiction tends to delete some parts of my work.